


Activation Day

by Lokiitama



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Coma, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Whump, birthday fic, self-deprecating thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-03 11:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20265088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokiitama/pseuds/Lokiitama
Summary: Hank had said they would get to an Aquarium for his activation day.When the day came, Hank was still in a coma, and nobody remembered about the 15th of August.





	Activation Day

** _3rd of March 2039, 11:39 am_ **

_ “When’s your birthday, Connor?” _

_ The question had been sudden, unexpected. They were in the middle of a tough case back then. Connor answered. He technically didn’t have one. But the first time he had been officially activated and ready to work had been on the 15th of August. They were still a few months away from it. Hank seemed deep in thoughts for a moment. Then nodded to himself. _

_ “Alright then, for your ‘activation date’” He said that fake-mocking Connor’s speech pattern. “I’ll bring you to the Aquarium.” _

_ Connor would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little twinge of excitement at that prospect. _

* * *

Connor changed the old daisies with new ones. He verified the amount of dust on the shelves and gave a satisfied nod once he found none. He went to open the windows a little, at least so the sun would get in. Surely, being cooped up in a room without the sun was bad for humans.

He turned to Hank. The man was still unmoving and pale as ever. _ Connor had done this._

He sat down on the nearby chair, that had barely moved from his spot ever since Hank had been accepted in the hospital. Connor never knew what to do with his hands. Most of the time, he didn’t even dare look up toward him. He was just left sitting there, fiddling with his clothes, his fingers, his coin, _anything _for the past two months and a half. He came every day but almost never spoke. The few times he had tried, the silence that replied to him had been too much. It was better to sit in silence where he didn’t expect anyone to speak.

Still, it didn’t prevent him from trying, at the beginning. When he missed Hank’s lively presence.

_ “I’ve been going on walks with Sumo every day. He misses you.” _

_ “Today Gavin was being rude again, but Tina shut him up.” _

_ “Markus managed to pass a law for androids again.” _

_ “Sumo got all muddy today.” _

But only the beeping of machines answered him. Hank never moved. His eyes never opened. He never got a sassy remark or an amused grunt back. Just the deafening silence of his mistakes, punctuated by the weak beeps of Hank’s heartbeat. Connor missed Hank.

Connor allowed himself a glance toward Hank. Something squeezed inside of him. It made his throat feel tight. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. Still, he opened his mouth. Everything felt like burning for an instant and he reconsidered. Should he speak today?

What would it change?

Hank was still in a coma because of his mistakes. Because he wasn’t fast enough to protect him when they finally made that bust on the case. Because he hadn’t evaluated the probabilities right and a bullet flew right into Hank as Connor was tackling their perp.

Connor closed his mouth.

It should have been him, not Hank.

His internal clock alerted him.

** _15th of August 2039, 7:10 am_ ** ** _  
_ ** _ OBJECTIVE…. GET TO WORK _

He stood up from his chair, and as he made his way out of the hospital, he couldn’t help thinking he would have liked it if Hank had been conscious on his activation day.

_ How selfish could he be? _

* * *

** _15th of August 2039, 10:00 am_ **

Connor had never felt more a machine than he did now.

He could remember being excited about discovering new things with Hank. He had even teased him for a whole week when Connor couldn’t sit still after learning they’d go to an Aquarium together. The way he wondered why Hank was nodding to himself proudly after placing something on the board he had once stuck anti-androids stickers on- only to discover the man had set up new photos on it. One of Cole, and one of the three of them- Hank, Sumo and Connor.

That desk was still covered in Hank’s trinkets, but it distinctly lacked Hank himself.

Ever since his _failure_, everything went dull. He never really interacted with the other officers at the precinct, aside from the occasional case. He had become furniture at this point. Seen as a tool, just like he had been before.

This day was no different. Nobody spared him a glance.

When Markus sent him a message to meet up, he accepted immediately. He left work.

Surely, spending time with his own would ease out his worries, right? Maybe, just maybe, if he allowed himself to be a bit selfish, he hoped someone would throw him a “happy birthday” over there. Hank had had told him his activation day was supposed to be special, and that being wished a happy birthday was an embarrassing but warm feeling. He had been very curious about it. He had replied he was looking forward to living that experience for himself.

Markus had needed him for reviews over negotiation with CyberLife. 

It was okay. Connor was used to this. He was the closest one to understanding CyberLife’s motives, as he was the latest model to be released to have worked for them. This was alright.

He convinced himself he didn’t feel a little bit emptier, when Markus excused himself, saying that they had a lot of meetings left that day and that they couldn’t spend time like usual after helping with a review. It was okay, really. One week, three days, 15 hours and 23 seconds before Hank got to the hospital, Markus got a lot of business to do regarding android laws and negotiations.

This was normal too.

He bid his farewell to Markus and nodded to the rest of his leaders as they entered the room for a meeting. They barely acknowledged his presence. The meeting was probably about an important point to give across. They would probably call him later to check over the protection, to keep everyone safe when the official meet-up would happen.

He probably still had the time to go back to the DPD and take care of archiving in some cases. What else would he be doing on his activation day, without Hank?

As he went through the halls of New Jericho, his eyes trained on a common room. One of the androids turned toward him, his face had huge blue scarring across his left jaw that went down his neck, his LED was spinning yellow. They both froze when they made eye-contact.

_ “You have to trust me, Daniel!” _

_ “You lied to me, Connor. You lied to me.” _

Both their LEDs flashed red instantly. Two other Androids stood up suddenly and moved across the room towards him. They got in the doorway, barring the entrance to Connor. This was fine. He didn’t plan on going in. The two androids requested him to go away. Daniel generally avoided him like the plague. Connor was told the other android didn’t want to see the hellhound of CyberLife, especially today.

Connor simply nodded and kept going. He could understand. This was fine. Who would want to see the thing that made them live through death exactly a year ago.

Why would anyone celebrate on this day, after all? Although he was technically one of theirs now- even if he felt estranged from them, it was still the day he got activated. The day CyberLife released a machine to hunt them down restlessly. The machine that had killed so many of them.

He let out a breath as his biocomponents started tightening for the 49th time of the day. It was barely midday.

He went back to the DPD.

He never felt more like a machine than this day.

* * *

** _15th of August 2039, 7:49 pm_ **

These last two months and a half, Connor took care of Sumo and Hank’s house.

He found great comfort in threading his fingers in the big dog’s fur. If it wasn’t for Sumo, the house would have felt empty. Both of them went to walk every day around the block. Until Sumo would get tired. It helped soothing Connor’s guilt and worry, somehow.

But it always came back tenfold when he would sit on the sofa with Sumo, and the dog would look at the door and whine.

When Sumo had fallen asleep and Connor found himself plagued by his failure, unable to enter stasis, he would go around the house and clean. Soon enough, there wasn’t anything to clean left. And he felt there wasn’t anything human to the house anymore. The fridge was empty. All the food had gone bad. Everything was in place. Everything was perfect. There was not a single speck of dust. Connor hated it.

Hank would always leave his coat on a chair, have too many condiments in the fridge, leave Sumo’s stuff all around the house. There was always something out of place.

Connor had made the place inhuman. But he couldn’t stop. He had to find _ some way _ of making it up to Hank. Cleaning the place would never be enough but Connor hoped it would make Hank happy when he woke up. _ If _he woke up.

Connor was a fool for hoping. Real deviants _hoped. _Clearly, he wasn’t one of them.

That day, when Connor got home, he didn’t get out Sumo’s leash and toys like usual. He didn’t go around the house to remove Sumo’s hair and eventual dust. He rigidly sat down on the sofa, ignoring the dog’s whines and pushes against his leg, and initiated the countdown to stasis.

_ What did he think about, getting a “birthday”? He was nothing but a machine. _

His chest tightened harder than usual and made his countdown stutter a second. Connor ignored the burning in his eyes in favour of the stasis’ darkness that took over.

* * *

** _15th of August 2039, 22:06 pm_ **

_ CALL INCOMING… UNKNOWN NUMBER _ _  
_ _ ACCEPT CALL?... Y/N _

Connor blinked awake. The room was dark, only illuminated by electronic devices, and his flashing yellow LED. Sumo was curled up against him, head on his laps. He had sought pets and cuddles while he was in stasis. He put his hand on Sumo’s head, and the animal gave out a happy sigh. 

Connor felt the same squeeze around his thirium pump as he did when he tried to speak to Hank earlier that day.

_ CALL INCOMING… UNKNOWN NUMBER _ _  
_ _ ACCEPT CALL?... Y/N _

** _Y_ **

It was a female voice. She asked if it was indeed Connor responding to the call. He answered. His voice went static for a moment. He hadn’t used it much today. The lady speaking informed him she was a nurse from the hospital.

Cold dread washed over Connor for a moment as he glanced at Sumo then the door he whined in front of every so often. Was Hank okay? Did his state get worse? The doctors had said he might get worse. The _ androids _ doctor had told him he had precisely a 46.3% chance of not making it.

Sumo woke up when he felt Connor’s hand tighten slightly in his fur.

Tentatively, Connor asked how was Hank.

_ “He has woken up.” _

Connor stood up immediately. He would be at the hospital in exactly 13 minutes and 24 seconds.

* * *

** _15th of August 2039, 22:19 pm_ **

Hank was pale and sick-looking. Hank had lost a lot of weight ever since he got admitted to the hospital. But when Connor passed the all-too-familiar door, _ Hank was awake_.

Connor stood in the doorway, frozen in place. _ Hank was awake_.

The man threw him a weak smile and a gruff _ “Hey, kid”_. His voice was rough. Unused. He had been asleep for the past two months and a half. _ Hank was awake. _

He didn’t dare move toward him. Did he deserve it? After his failure? His eyes were burning again. _ Hank was awake. _

“Are you just gonna stare at me like a gaping fish? C’mere.”

Connor approached. Hank didn’t seem to hate him. He was weakly petting the bed by his side, not breaking eye contact. Connor sat down in his chair, next to Hank.

The man asked him what happened. Connor had to open and close his mouth a few times before he managed to speak to Hank- _ Hank would reply, this time_, _ Hank was awake _\- and he explained. The bust, Connor’s mistake, Hank’s coma. He apologized for his failure. His biocomponents were feeling tight. Tighter than usual. 

“Last I remember,” Hank huffed, “I threw myself in front of a bullet so it wouldn’t get to you. Don’t let it get to your head, son.”

Connor fell silent. His LED blinked red for an instant before settling to yellow. Hank… didn’t hate him for his failure?

The man huffed again, snapping Connor back to reality before he could spiral down into darker thoughts. He asked how long he had been into a coma. Connor answered, dutifully, still not believing Hank was replying to him -_ Hank was awake_. He had been in a coma for 2 months, 15 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes and 09 seconds.

Hank asked what the date was. Connor replied. It was the 15th of August 2039.

Hank grunted, trying to sit up a little but barely managing due to the muscles that had dystrophied. Connor helped him instantly, propping him up against a pillow. Hank’s hands were warm. As he straightened himself to go back to his chair, Hank tightened his grip on him. Connor stilled immediately.

“Hey Connor,” Connor looked up. The man gave him a crooked grin. “Happy Birthday, son.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you all enjoyed this!
> 
> It's yet another fic I've written up till 5 am, but I swear one day I'll manage to write and have proper sleep. I really wanted to get something out for Connor's birthday!


End file.
